Hundreds celebrate 28th Freedom Fund Banquet

Saturday

Jan 19, 2013 at 9:24 PM

The spirit of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was alive and well in Lexington Saturday night.

BY NASH DUNN The Dispatch

The spirit of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was alive and well in Lexington on Saturday night.More than 250 people gathered at the J. Smith Young YMCA for the 28th Annual Freedom Fund Banquet, hosted by the Davidson County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.While enjoying a dinner among family and friends, attendees joined together for prayer, scripture and song.“It has been 45 years since Dr. King was assassinated,” said the Rev. Dr. Ray Howell of First Baptist Church on West Third Avenue, the banquet’s master of ceremonies. “Forty-five years ago, his lips were silenced, but his voice will never be silenced unless we are silent.”The annual Freedom Fund banquet has become a staple event of the local NAACP branch, which was formed in 1951.In addition to celebrating the memory of King, branch president the Rev. Dr. Keith Curry also took the opportunity to inform attendees about an effort to rename a street in Lexington after the famous reverend and civil rights activist.Lexington City Council is expected to decide at 7 p.m. Jan. 28 if it will rename portions of Raleigh Road and Sixth Street after King.Curry urged attendees to go and speak during a public comment section at the meeting.“We understood (King’s) mission and vision, and it is something we need to keep now in our consciousness,” Curry said.Lexington Mayor Newell Clark echoed Curry’s statements.“What is right is that we recognize all the citizens of this community,” Clark said.The Rev. Dr. Carlton Eversley, pastor of Dellabrook Presbyterian Church in Winston-Salem, served as the night’s guest speaker.Eversley spoke to the crowd about things to fight, or be for and things to fight, or be against. He spoke passionately about how black people, young and old, should strive for educational excellence.“You and I don’t spend one minute of our lives without the indebtedness and intelligent minds of black people,” Eversley said.To a standing ovation, Eversley urged attendees to come together and fight for their own economic and political prosperity, as well as a conscious effort to end violence.Matt Swift, a representative from Lexington’s parks and recreation department, also presented an award to Jeremy “Scooter” Dalton for his service to youth sports.

Nash Dunn can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 227, or at nash.dunn@the-dispatch.com.